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Employee Appreciation: 3 Ways to Get It!

Do you feel unappreciated at work? That doesn’t mean people don’t appreciate you. It means they aren’t expressing appreciation to you.


It’s an important distinction. If you believe others don’t appreciate you, you can lose motivation. You can start to question your worth at work. You might even spiral into negativity that hurts other parts of your life. STOP!

Employee Appreciation: Be a Buoy to Be Appreciated. Image by Sweet Dreamz Design via Flickr.

• When people are most likely to express it
• What stops them from expressing it
• How to get more of it at work!

Employee Appreciation: When Do Leaders Express It

For many leaders, appreciation is an emotional response. They don’t show employee appreciation for tasks completed. They appreciate you when your actions fill their voids.

People express appreciation when you help them advance or ease their pain — when you are their buoy!

Leaders give appreciation when they have a need that you fill. Why? Because it is at that point they are aware of their vulnerability. They feel the need keenly enough to show employee appreciation. To get appreciation at work, be a buoy of resilience for others.

Employee Appreciation: 9 Reasons Leaders Don’t Show It

1. Some people are very uncomfortable expressing positive emotion until your caring actions move them beyond their discomfort.
2. Some leaders were mentored by leaders who thought emotion was unproductive. They live what they were taught.
3. The organizational culture is not one of gratitude.
4. Some leaders live by the old rule: No news is good news. They believe you are being paid to do a job.
5. They believe that you know you are appreciated because you were hired.
6. Your leader may be a high introvert who keeps much inside.
7. Their leader doesn’t express appreciation to them and thus they have no motivation to show appreciation to you.
8. Some people are intrinsically motivated and need little appreciation. They assume everyone is like them.
9. Leaders who are high drivers focus on end results to the exclusion of everything else.

Employee Appreciation: 3 Ways to Get It!

Use your natural talents and interests to do for others what they can’t or don’t like to do.

• Complete your boss. An executive admin reported to me that her boss hates to write. She loves to write. He gives her his key thoughts and she writes the document or presentation. He appreciates it and says so! She is his buoy!




• Lift up your teammate. Teammates empathized with a teammate struggling with a serious personal life issue and filled the void when that teammate was not at work. They buoyed their teammate. The teammate expressed sincere appreciation.




• Share your talents regardless of your title. One woman reported she is always good in a crisis. She’s a pressure player as the old saying goes. Now people turn to her at crunch time. She is a buoy! She receives appreciation at work for this even though she is not the official leader.

During a recent keynote, I said…

Instead of seeking appreciation for your job tasks, get appreciated for your natural talents.

Someone answered … That still means they don’t value our job function.

I replied: Job functions become extinct. Your talents don’t and won’t. Buoy people with your talents and you will get appreciation.

Career Appreciation: Be a Buoy to Be More Appreciated at Work

Related Posts:
25 Incredible Talents That Get Appreciated at Work
Leaders, Employee Engagement is Uniquely Personal

©2013-2014 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

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Tags: appreciation, buoy, Career, communication, emotional intelligence, empathy, gratitude, interpersonal skills, leaders, Leadership, management, people skills, recognition, support, teammates, workplace